Seducing The Marauders
by DarkAvenger
Summary: Bellatrix makes a daring bet with Lucius - she has to seduce all four of the Marauders in four weeks. Rating may change later on.
1. The Bet

**Summary:** Bellatrix makes a bet with Lucius - she has to seduce all four Marauders in four weeks.

**Pairings:** Bellatrix/Sirius, Bellatrix/James, Bellatrix/Remus, Bellatrix/Peter, Bellatrix/Lucius. (My, she's flirty, that Bellatrix)

**Author's Note:** For the sake of the story, I made it so that Lucius and Bellatrix were both in their seventh year at Hogwarts while the Marauders were in their fifth, so people wouldn't hammer me later on about the fact that it is non-canon compliant. If you don't like that, then don't read. You've been warned. Otherwise, enjoy and leave a review! ;-)

* * *

"Checkmate." uttered Lucius in satisfaction as his queen smashed Bellatrix's knight to bits and kicked the pieces away "Alas, dear Bella, it would seem that I win, yet again."

Bellatrix glared at him "How many times have I told you not to call me Bella?"

Lucius flashed her a smile, exposing all his brilliantly white teeth "More times than I care to count."

Bellatrix barely supressed the urge to pull out her wand and hex his manly bits off. But considering that she already got told off by Professor Slughorn once today for using a rather nasty jinx on a first-year who dared mock her, she thought better of it. Instead, she proceeded to watch as Lucius removed the remains of the chess pieces from the board and looked up at her "Want to play again?"

"I think I'll pass." Bellatrix leaned back in her chair and bent backwards, her impressive chest bulging forwards, and at that moment in time the eyes of almost every passing Slytherin boy flickered towards her, desire clearly visible in them. As Bellatrix straightened up again, everyone who had been staring instantly turned away, pretending to busy themselves with something else. None of them noticed a knowing smile playing on her lips as Lucius commented "You truly know how to get people's attention, Bellatrix."

Bellatrix smirked "Including yours, Lucius."

Lucius held his hands up "Guilty as charged. Say, have you finished that Transfiguration essay for tomorrow?"

Bellatrix's eyes widened in horror "Oh damn..."

Lucius rolled his eyes "No surprise there. I'd expect you have been too busy testing out Rodolphus' stamina the previous night."

"How did you know about tha...?"

"I was walking past the girl's dormitory whilst you were at it, Bellatrix. I'd consider putting a Silencing Charm on the door next time. I could hear your moaning all the way from here."

Bellatrix blushed furiously, glaring daggers at Lucius in the process, but he ignored her and continued "And I'm not even talking about last week when you went for that idiot, Amos Diggory."

Bellatrix gagged "I never...!"

"A broom closet isn't quite as inconspicuous as people like to think. And I thought you had better taste than _that_, Bellatrix."

"You know perfectly well I only did it because of that bet with Rabastan. Although I will admit, Diggory is quite handsome, not to mention that he's quite _talented _as well..."

Lucius screwed up his nose in disgust "Spare me the details, Bellatrix. What you've told me is already enough to give me nightmares for weeks."

"Serves you right for spying on me." casually shot back Bellatrix. She enjoyed bantering with Lucius, as it often provided a minor form of entertainment and amusement when both of them were bored out of their minds.

"There is no need for me to spy, Bellatrix. Your reputation already precedes you."

"And one day you might just get to find out how I got that reputation, _Lucius_." said Bellatrix in a coy voice. She snatched her bag with all her books in it, off the nearby table and made to stand up, but the sound of Lucius' voice stopped her.

"Then surely you would want to keep up that reputation, wouldn't you _Bellatrix_?"

Bellatrix sat down abruptly again and fixed Lucius with a stare. He had that mischievous gleam in his eye, the one that she knew all too well well. A little distance away from them, Severus Snape was rapidly scribbling down on a piece of parchment, a copy of _Advanced Transfiguration_ open on the table in front of him. Lucius held Bellatrix's gaze for a little while more before he spoke out "I am curious, Bellatrix...would you say you could seduce any boy here at Hogwarts?"

Bellatrix snorted and tossed her lengthy dark hair back. As far as she was concerned, that was more of a rhetorical question than anything else. There was not a single male student at Hogwarts that would be able to resist the charms of Bellatrix Black "You doubt me, Lucius?"

"No, not at all, my dear Bellatrix. I don't for one second, doubt that you have certain _talents_..." He drawled out the last word "But I think it's time someone put those talents to the real test."

"Meaning?" Bellatrix's eyes narrowed.

"To phrase it in more simple terms, a bet."

Bellatrix leaned forward in eager anticipation. If there was one thing she liked, it was a good challenge "I'm listening, _Lucy_."

Lucius winced slightly. He hated when she called him that, just as much as she hated him calling her Bella "I assume you are familiar with that group that call themselves the Marauders?"

Bellatrix rolled her eyes. How wouldn't she? Her younger cousin, Sirius, was part of that very same lot...that traitorous, family-disowning, lowly scumbag...he thought he was above the Black heritage and traditions and ideals...not to mention that he had inherited that classic charm that all men of the Black family possessed, and was devilishly handsome to boot...

Bellatrix quickly interrupted that train of thought as Lucius spoke out again "I'll take that as a yes then."

"What have those lazy layabouts got to do with it?"

"I want you to seduce them."

Bellatrix was taken by surprise by this direct statement, especially having it come from the likes of Lucius "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Bellatrix. I'd like you to seduce them. "

Bellatrix did not respond, still staring at Lucius with a dumbfounded expression on her face. No, she must have misheard. There was no way that Lucius (granted that he was in the right state of mind at the time) would ever challenge her to sleep with a bunch of Gryffindors. Them being the _Marauders_, no less. Lucius smirked, twirling a lock of golden hair around his thumb, and spoke in a more quiet tone, since Snape was now looking curiously in their direction "Why so silent, Bellatrix?"

"If you want to crack a joke Lucius, you'll have to do better than that."

"I wasn't joking. But seeing as you still have that bewildered look on your face, I'll take that as a declination of my offer."

"What exactly does this bet entail?"

"Meaning?"

"What do I get if I win this bet of yours?"

Lucius' eyes lightened up "So you _are_ interested then?"

_Say no, say no, say no_..."Possibly."

Lucius leaned back in his chair with a satisfied expression "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist, Bellatrix. You are far too competitive for your own good."

"I'm not the one who locked myself in my bedroom and sulked for three hours because I missed out on being made Head Boy." Bellatrix took some pleasure in seeing Lucius flinch as she spoke those words "And you still haven't answered my question, _Lucius_. What do I get if I win?"

"Ah, fifty Galleons should just about cover it."

"_Lucius_!"

"Fine, I'll throw in that new magic carpet Uncle Alfarad got me for Christmas as well."

Bellatrix frowned "Aren't carpets illegal here?"

"Smuggling."

"Oh."

"So, do we have a deal?" inquired Lucius as he reached out with his hand for a handshake. Bellatrix did not respond, but simply continued to gaze at him with a suspicious look "What?"

"You haven't told me what happens should I lose the bet."

"Oh, _that_." Bellatrix could have sworn that Lucius nearly smirked again "Well, you remember those rather embarassing photos of yourself at Halloween dressed in that ridiculous attire?"

Bellatrix's face paled slightly "I destroyed those."

"Oh, certainly you did. However, should you happen to lose our bet, I will ensure that the surviving images make it into the hands of every single Slytherin student here at Hogwarts."

Lucius had to admire the fact that Bellatrix was somehow managing to keep herself composed despite what he just said, even though her face had gone chalk white. Finally, she spat out "That's just childish, Lucius."

"Agreed, but seeing you in a maroon wig and blue tights pouring Firewhisky all over yourself gets me everytime. I've lost count of how many times I've been rolling on the floor after seeing that image."

"How did you get those pictures anyway?" demanded Bellatrix "I thought I destroyed all of them!"

"Regulus." bluntly answered Lucius.

"That slimy brat..." hissed Bellatrix, making a mental note to torture the hell out of Regulus when she got the chance, preferably when no one was looking.

"Of course," continued Lucius "This applies only on the condition that you accept the bet, my dear Bella."

There he was again, calling her that. Bellatrix had to muster all her willpower to stop herself punching Lucius, and stared coolly into those grey eyes. Somewhere in the depths of her mind, a little voice was continuously chanting _refuse, refuse, refuse, refuse_...Bellatrix bit down on her lip. She knew that refusing would be the most reasonable course of action...but unfortunately for her, Lucius knew her far too well. She could not refuse, because she hated backing away from a challenge. Especially if it meant seeing Lucius walking around with that smug and satisfied look on his face afterwards. And it didn't hurt that she'd be getting fifty Galleons and a magic carpet too if she won "Well, Bellatrix?"

_Say no, say no, say no_..."Yes."

Lucius clapped his hands, his eyes shining with anticipation "I knew you'd agree."

"Counting on it, more likely." muttered Bellatrix under her breath, but Lucius didn't hear, as at that moment, a group of nearby third-years decided to begin a game of Exploding Snap, drowning out her words "There'll be conditions of some sort, I assume?"

"Certainly. First of all, no cheating. That includes using love potions and the Imperius Curse."

Bellatrix snorted. As if she'd have to resort to such crude methods of gaining the Marauders' attention.

"Secondly, there'll be a time limit. Four weeks. One week for each Marauder, that only seems fair."

Bellatrix nodded. That indeed seemed fair.

"And thirdly, Bellatrix, you have to seduce each and every one of the Marauders completely and utterly. Having them merely show some affection towards you doesn't count. Each one of them has to be completely smitten with you, even if that means going _all the way_."

As he stretched out the last few words, Bellatrix's eyes widened in alarm as the image of Peter Pettigrew crawled into her head "All the way?"

"Yes, Bellatrix. _All the way_." Lucius smirked once again "I assume that will be no trouble to someone as _experienced_ as yourself."

Bellatrix hated Lucius right now. Really hated him. It would probably pass by tomorrow morning, but right now she had the strongest urge to jinx him into a slobbering jelly "No."

"Then we are settled." Lucius leaned forwards in his chair, and stretched out his hand again for a handshake. Reluctantly, Bellatrix shook it, but nevertheless she held Lucius's gaze without blinking. He winked at her and rose from his chair "I think I'll head off to bed. You can start tomorrow. Good night, _Bella_."

And there, he said it again. For a fleeting second, Bellatrix fought the urge to fling something heavy at Lucius' retreating back, but thought better of it. As she gazed into the flickering fireplace beside her chair, she reflected on what she had just agreed to do. And no matter how much she pondered on what bout of insanity had caused her to agree to this bet with Lucius, she was determined to see it through to the very end.

She would start with Pettigrew first thing in the morning. And with any luck, she wouldn't have to go _all the way_, as Lucius put it, with him.

* * *

**Ending Note:** So what did you think? Leave a review and let me know! Constructive criticism will be much appreciated. Compliments will be too. ;-)


	2. Seducing Peter

**Author's Note:** Hey everyone, sorry about the long delay in updating the story. I've been quite busy (not to mention I've suffered a minor case of writer's block), so I have not been able to get this chapter out quickly enough. I would seriously like to thank everyone for the positive reviews and feedback, it was really encouraging to see people enjoying this story, and give me initiative to write more. And to answer M'rika's question, yes it is technically incest, but since there are so many Sirius/Bellatrix fics on here, I wouldn't be by far the first to venture in this forbidden territory. ;-)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter. There, I've done it.

* * *

Freezing weather the next day meant that the hospital wing was more crammed that day than usual, with students coming in with nasty bouts of cold. Madam Pomfrey's stocks of Pepper-Up Potion had been all but used up, which was a good enough initiative for most people to stay inside for the rest of the day, slumped on the couches in front of a blazing fire, reading, playing wizard chess, Gobstones or even a friendly game of Exploding Snap. The one other initiative might have been avoiding Filch, who came wheezing into the hospital wing with a bad case of cold only to find there was no Pepper-Up Potion left for him. This however, did not stop four brave (or perhaps foolhardy) students from rushing outside to have a fierce snowball fight.

The students' names? Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

Pettigrew became the unfortunate victim of a rather large snowball hurled by Sirius that was initially headed for Remus before the latter diverted it's course with a mere flick of his wand and inadvertently struck Peter. Spitting out bits of snow, Peter saw a brief flash of white before an even bigger snowball, thrown by James this time, struck him full in the face with such force that it knocked him off his feet onto the ground. There was roar of laughter from the other three, Sirius and Remus hurrying forwards to help their friend back on his feet. Pettigrew was the only one who did not find the event amusing, most likely because he had already been the target of more snowballs today than the other three Marauders combined.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Prongs," spoke Sirius, giving James a mock glare "Wormtail is _my_ target!"

James grinned "You already got him six times, it was only fair."

"That last snowball doesn't count; that was Moony."

"You threw it." pointed out Remus, folding his arms across his chest.

"You're the one who deflected it."

"How was I supposed to know it was going to hit Wormtail?"

"You could've looked, for starters." murmured Peter, but nobody seemed to have heard him.

"And how was _I_ supposed to know it would hit Wormy instead of you?"

"Shhh!" hissed James, gesturing towards a big-bellied figure approaching them. It was almost impossible to mistake that walrus moustache for anything else, even at such a large distance. All four of the Marauders quickly began dusting off their robes, hurriedly removing any detectable traces of snow, and tried to put on their best looks of innocence. This came easy to Remus, who simply gave his face an impassionate expression, and to Wormtail, who began examining his nails with avid interest. It was somewhat more difficult for James, who had a goofy grin plastered over his face, and to Sirius, the corners of whose mouth twitched ever so slightly upwards in a roguish smile which looked anything but innocent.

"'Morning, boys!" boomed Slughorn, walking towards them with a lively spring in his step "Not up to mischief again, I hope?"

"Not at all, Professor, not at all." replied Remus, and both James and Sirius began nodding vigorously "Just your usual, hard-working, well-behaved, good-grade-earning students having a bit of a well-deserved break." Of course, the only one of the four Marauders who could succesfully fill all the criteria just stated would have to be Remus - "the golden boy", as James and Sirius jokingly referred to him - and the only exception in their midst to the fourth (and most likely second) criteria would have to be Wormtail, whose school grades mostly lingered barely above average.

"What brings you out here, Professor?" suddenly asked Sirius "It's rather chilly, don't you think?"

"Indeed." chuckled Slughorn heartily "Though that doesn't seem to have stopped you boys, did it? But then, you are young, strong, able...old age, on the other hand, does not seem to be doing me any favours..." He sighed heavily "I just thought I'd go and pay Professor Kettleburn a visit, I'd heard he was out in the grounds taming some unicorns for his next lesson...we go way back, you know, I'd known him for so long, I forget...yes, yes...well, goodbye boys, mind that you don't stay out too long!"

"We wont, Professor!" called out Remus after his retreating figure "Give our best regards to Professor Kettleburn!"

Slughorn did not seem to have heard him, quickening his pace as he hurried out of sight. As soon as he had disappeared behind a cluster of trees, Sirius snorted.

"Visiting Kettleburn, as if...if old Sluggy isn't on his way to gamble his Galleons in Hogsmeade right now, I'll eat my hat."

"You don't have a hat." James reminded him.

"All right then, I'll eat my socks. Or my gloves. Or my jar of frogspawn."

"Or your purple tie. The striped one." suggested James, the sarcasm evident in his tone.

Sirius pretended to consider it "Nah. I like that tie." He flashed a grin at James.

"I'm freezing, can we go inside?" suddenly interjected Wormtail, his teeth chattering loudly. He was shivering slightly.

"Great idea." quickly said Remus, and began moving towards the grand doors of the castle before either Sirius or James could object "I still have that Astronomy chart to finish."

"Prefect duties hitching you up, Moony?" inquired Sirius, as he and James followed, Wormtail walking just ahead of them "Pretty busy all year round from what I hear."

"Oh no, no." cut in James "Moony is a good boy - he _always_ goes off to the library to catch up."

"On the rare occasion he _does_ actually study there..." remarked Sirius.

"...and is not staring at Rachel like a lovestruck doe." finished James, and both he and Sirius burst out laughing, giving each other high-fives.

"Oh, shut up." muttered Remus, and even though his face was pale white from the cold wind, his cheeks had gone visibly pink. Rachel Gauss was a Ravenclaw fifth year, and Remus' long time crush. He had fancied her since at least the Marauders' second year at Hogwarts, although James and Sirius had only found out this year, after he began going to the library whenever she was there, and spent long periods of time trying to work up his Gryffindor courage to speak to her. The task was fairly easy, since Rachel mostly sat by herself and away from prying eyes (excluding Remus'), but he was still strangely tongue-tied every time he tried to talk to her. Taking deep breaths and muttering words of encouragement to himself didn't seem to help either.

"Ah, cheer up Moony, we were only joking." said Sirius, as he noticed Moony's facial expression change.

Remus managed a feeble smile "Yeah, I know."

None of them noticed that Wormtail was already entering through the castle doors, far ahead of them. But then, they _never_ did pay much attention to what Wormtail did or didn't do.

* * *

Bellatrix's lip curled upwards as she and her two sisters walked the castle's deserted halls, with Narcissa chatting away endlessly and Andromeda being her usual silent self, fearful to meet anyone's gaze, or even to speak. She was looking out of the window with a slightly misty-eyed expression on her face, but Bellatrix didn't let that bother her. She never got the impression that Andromeda enjoyed being with her and Narcissa, but Andromeda didn't have all that many friends (actually, she didn't have any friends at all) and most other Slytherins scorned her, which left Bellatrix and Narcissa to defend her. Once, one boy even went so far as to spit at Andromeda as she passed; he had to spend a week in the hospital wing after Bellatrix had been through with him.

"Have you spoken to Lucius today, Bella?" asked Narcissa in a casual tone.

"No, he wasn't down at breakfast this morning. Probably skulking around the grounds somewhere with Rabastan and Dolohov." replied Bellatrix, scowling. Narcissa questioned her daily about Lucius - what he did, where he hung out, what he was like and so on. Bellatrix knew all too well that Narcissa was fond of Lucius, but was slightly irritated by the fact that Lucius seemed to show just as much interest in Narcissa, even if he only spoke about five words to her throughout the entire year. Bellatrix had known him for much longer, and considered herself better looking than her sisters, even if she never told them that (although Andromeda shared a remarkable reseblance to her, and that irked Bellatrix somewhat), hence she did not know what prompted Lucius to develop a sudden interest in Narcissa, who was one year younger than him and Bellatrix.

"Oh." Narcissa sounded slightly disappointed "Well, boys be boys, you can't blame them for wanting to hang around outside..."

"Mhmm." grunted Bellatrix, paying little attention to what her sister was saying.

"...it's such a beautiful day after all, isn't it?"

"Oh yes, absolutely." answered Bellatrix, her voice heavily laden with sarcasm; she did not bother to point out the Hogwarts lake in the distance to Narcissa, which was almost wholly frozen over.

Narcissa did not seem to pick up on the sarcasm and continued in the same dull, monotonous voice "I really wish I could get to know him better, I mean he seems such a nice young man, respectable, charming, intelligent, polite and oh, so _handsome_..." Her eyes glossed over, giving her face a dreamy-eyed expression "But then, I'd expect he'd have girls chasing after him all the time..."

Bellatrix had completely tuned out by this point, not paying any attention whatsoever to Narcissa's continued droning, her mind wandering to the bet she had made with Lucius the night before. It seemed such a stupid thing to do now, with the stakes so high (Bellatrix shuddered at the thought of having the entire Slytherin common room pestering her about those Halloween pictures - Lucius would never let her live it down), but she _was_ Bellatrix Black, and she had _never_ failed to make a boy fall head over heels for her before, and it certainly wouldn't happen now. She hadn't had a chance to confront Pettigrew today, and even though some part of her cringed at the thought of it happening, she was determined. Throwing a sideways glance out of one of the numerous windows lining the hall through which she and her sisters were walking, she spied them at last - the Marauders, or at least three of them, were happily chatting amongst each other as they headed up towards the castle doors. Way ahead of the three, walked the fourth Marauder - who Bellarix instantly recognised as the short, plump and fair-haired Peter Pettigrew.

"Bellatrix! Are you listening to me?"

"Eh?" Bellatrix continued gazing out of the window, thinking extremely quickly about what course of action she would take.

"Oh, never mind." snapped Narcissa irritably "What do you think, Andromeda?"

Andromeda's reaction was nearly identical to Bellatrix's, her facial expression vacant as she stared straight down at the floor, looking somewhat miserable. But then Andromeda _always_ looked somewhat miserable, it was almost natural to see her walking around the school, looking like she had just drunk a cauldronful of a Depression-Inducing Draught (the school matron had a whole cupboard in the hospital wing stocked with the draught - students made up various explanations and theories to account for it, ranging from reasonable deductions to far-fetched and downright outlandish claims involving a den of Mongolian dragons, a horde of bloodthirsty Scottish vampires and the Italian Mafia). Narcissa finally shut up when she realised that neither Bellatrix nor Andromeda were paying any attention to her, but the silence didn't last for long, for as soon as they turned a corner leading towards the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, Narcissa launched into a lengthy tirade concerning the Gryffindor Quidditch team which was composed mainly, as Narcissa put it, of "filthy mudbloods and blood traitors".

But Bellatrix wasn't paying attention yet again, for Peter Pettigrew had just crossed the hallway behind them.

"I'll catch up with you two later." she quickly said to Narcissa, who looked outraged, and Andromeda, who looked indifferent, before tearing off in the opposite direction after Pettigrew who had just vanished beyond a corner. It was much darker in this part of the castle, and only a few of the torches on the walls were lit, making it difficult for her to see anything. Twice, Bellatrix had nearly tripped over her own feet in the semi-darkness, the lengthy dark blue dress that she was wearing making it exceptionally difficult for her to run. Panting heavily, and nearly dead (so to speak) with exhaustion, Bellatrix rounded another corner, and heard what was unmistakably two people talking in hushed tones.

"Not now...let's wait..."

"...see you later, then."

Bellatrix sprinted down the dimly-lit corridor as fast as her long legs could carry her, unable to make out the voices any longer. She finally came to a halt near another corner, sliding a few feet on the gleaming floor, and nearly crashing into none other than Peter Pettigrew, who jumped nearly a foot in the air at the sight of her and clumsily tripped over his own two feet, falling on his backside onto the hard ground. Bellatrix bent over, struggling to catch her breath, and clutching at her chest which was rising and falling with her rapid breathing.

"Oh, hello Peter. Didn't see you there." she laughed nervously, then tossed her hair back over her shoulder and leaned against the darkened wall in what she assumed to be a seductive manner. Peter was still staring wide-eyed at her, looking as though he had just seen a ghost, and fumbling nervously on the ground, before muttering "You gave me quite a fright."

"Yeah, didn't see you there. Sorry about that." Bellatrix grinned sheepishly before remembering that she _never_ apologised to anyone. She quickly assumed a much harsher tone "Besides, what were _you_ doing, just standing there, in the middle of the hallway? You never know when some poor, unfortunate student might come rounding a corner and seriously hurt themselves crashing into you." She choose to neglect the fact that Pettigrew was more likely to get hurt than herself in the event that she _did_ crash into him - she was taller than him after all, and could easily bowl him over sprinting, even if he was wider than she was. Then she quickly changed the subject "Anyway, it's not like either of us was badly hurt, so forgive and forget, shall we?"

"Yeah, sure." mumbled Peter, and hastened to climb up onto his feet and pick up his school bag, which he had dropped "I-I really have to go."

"Now, now." Bellatrix stepped sideways, blocking his path "Gone just like that, Peter? Why don't you hang around a while? Maybe we could talk."

"I'd love to, but I r-r-really got to go." Peter tried to move around her, but she simply stepped into his path again "Lots of homework to d-do."

Peter usually only stuttered when he was nervous, something that anyone who had ever spoken to him easily picked up on - something that Bellatrix quickly noticed too "Really? Shame. You should have some fun, Peter. Relax, take a break. I never see you out and about enjoying yourself. Maybe you and I can take a break...spend a bit of time together. Get to know one another a bit better. Trust me, you'll do a lot better with your homework after you've had a break." She took a step towards Peter, and then another one.

"Y-You know that from p-p-personal experience?" Peter let out a nervous laugh, slowly backing away as Bellatrix moved closer towards him. Bellatrix sighed mockingly.

"Yes...N.E.W.T's coming up you know, all the hard work...it pays to relax every once in a while. Maybe I could even teach you some ways." She supressed an inward shudder as she put her hands on both his shoulders "Mhmm, what do you think, Peter?" She stared directly into his eyes, which were still wide in apparent shock, and smiled at him, batting her eyelashes once.

"Enticing offer, B-Bellatrix but I think I'll p-pass." Peter glanced around him, looking desperately for any way to escape "I'm su-sure you've g-got plenty of t-t-things to do, t-too."

"On the contrary, Peter." The boy did not notice himself backing away into a wall, not before Bellatrix pushed him up against it at least, the Slytherin beauty driving her tongue across her bottom lip for maximum effect. Peter's eyes widened even further "I've got all the time in the world."

"B-B-Bellatrix, I really h-have to g-go, if you'll just...MHMMMHHM!"

Bellatrix chose that moment to lean forwards (or downwards, since Peter was shorter than her), and crushed her lips in an almost suffocating kiss against Peter's own, forcing herself to move her tongue into Peter's unwilling mouth, and crushing her body up against the plump boy, her breasts rubbing across Peter's chest, and her hands entwined behind his neck as she pushed herself to deepen the kiss, as Peter tried to mutter something incomprehensible into the kiss, his hands flailing about wildly as he struggled to free himself from Bellatrix, who was now moving her hands down Peter's chest, and towards his rather large stomach. Finally they broke apart, Bellatrix smiling contentedly (or at least excellently pretending to), and Peter, wide-eyed, red-faced, mouth open in shock and looking as though he had just suffered a third degree heartburn.

"Well." Bellatrix leaned back against the wall opposite, twirling a lock of her wavy black hair around her forefinger and winking at Pettigrew "That was quite something, wasn't it?"

"Y-Y-Y-Y..." Peter seemed to be struggling to get the words out of his mouth, looking like he'd just had the Tongue-Tier Curse put on him "Mhmhmhmmhhhmmgsttthaarghhmmm..."

"Maybe you'd like another one perhaps...for practice?" Bellatrix sang in a seductive voice, moving forwards towards Pettigrew again.

"Yes...no! Maybe...yes...I mean no! No!" Pettigrew jumped and snatched up his school bag from the floor.

"No...meaning yes?" Bellatrix tilted her head to the side in a coy fashion.

"I really have to go!" blurted out Peter in a strangely high-pitched voice that could have almost passed for a girl's one, before he sped off down the corridor with surprising speed, rounding a corner and vanishing beyond it before Bellatrix could open her mouth to speak again. The dark-haired Slytherin smiled satisfied to herself, marking the first day of the bet as a success. She had no doubt that what had just transpired was certain to make sure that she stayed cemented in Pettigrew's mind for many days to come. She was almost ninety-nine percent sure that that had been Peter's first kiss from a girl (and the first and most certainly the last he would ever receive from Bellatrix), and was completely confident the fair-haired, plump Marauder would be hers before the week was out. Straightening out her dress and dusting it off, she set off in the opposite direction to which Pettigrew had run, making a mental note to inform Lucius of her satisfactory first day of the bet. She certainly could get used to tormenting Pettigrew in this manner.

This continued for the rest of the day. Bellatrix took very great care to physically make contact with Pettigrew in any way possible as she passed him in the corridors; the look on Pettigrew's face on those occasions, as though he was about to have a heart attack, or at the very least, faint on the spot, was beyond priceless. Another thing that Bellatrix noted was that he didn't walk too often with the Marauders, even though he was part of their little group - but she didn't let that bother her. Many people at dinner had wondered what had Peter looking like he had just eaten a bogey-flavoured Every-Flavour Bean - the answer lay in the fact that Bellatrix Black was sitting right across from him at the Slytherin table, making sure to wink and bat her eyelashes at him as often as possible. Later on, Bellatrix made sure to peel a banana and slowly slide it in and out of her mouth whilst staring intently at Pettigrew; the latter's facial expression during this torturous routine said quite plainly that he wished for nothing more dearly than to evaporate on the spot.

The first day so far had been a thorough success.

* * *

"He'll be mine before the end of the week. I'm willing to stake my reputation on it." stated Bellatrix as she relayed the day's events to Lucius in the Slytherin common room that evening, the latter looking thoroughly amused.

"Indeed." Lucius smiled "How was the kiss?"

Bellatrix screwed her face up as the image floated in her mind "You don't want to know."

"I'm sure I don't." They both burst out laughing, several of the Slytherin girls sitting a little distance away glancing at them suspiciously, before resuming their conversation.

"What have you been up to, anyway?" asked Bellatrix as they finally stopped laughing "I haven't seen you nearly all day."

"Out and about." casually answered Lucius "You know me."

"With Rabastan and Dolohov?" inquired Bellatrix, smiling knowingly.

"And Mulciber." admitted Lucius "We've been playing a little prank on old Kettleburn."

"I'd thought that was the Marauders' job."

"Well, I think we could certainly give them a run for their money."

"You wish, Lucius, you wish."

Lucius grinned "Is that admiration I hear in your voice, Bellatrix?"

"Admiration for Gryffindor? You insult me, Lucius." Bellatrix snorted "So what did you do to Kettleburn?"

Lucius' grin widened "You'll find out tomorrow, dear Bella."

"_Lucius_..." threatened Bellatrix.

Lucius held his hands up "Yes, yes, I know - _don't call me Bella, Lucius!_" He imitated Bellatrix's voice. The latter vented her feelings by flinging a nearby cushion at Lucius, who held his hands in front of his head to protect himself "I think I'll go to bed now."

"Me too." Bellatrix rose from her seat, and glaring holes at Lucius' back, she followed him to the dormitories, feeling thoroughly satisfied with herself, and ready to resume her conquest of Peter Pettigrew's affections in the morning.

* * *

**Ending Note:** As usual, read and leave a review (a flattering one if you please)! Next chapter hopefully coming up soon (sooner than this one, anyway). ;-)


	3. The Rat's Secret

**Author's Note:** And here we are, ladies and gentlemen, with another update for the story. Once again, I sincerely thank everyone for the positive reviews and feedback, they really do mean a lot to me. And yes, I know I am a filthy liar, since I promised that this chapter would be up sooner. However, this chapter is slightly longer than what I originally had in mind, so I'm hoping that makes up for it somewhat. As usual, read, hopefully enjoy and leave a review! Our dear Bellatrix is in for quite an unexpected shock, and we shall see what kind of prank Lucius and Co. have played on the unsuspecting Professor Kettleburn... ;-)

**Warning: **This chapter contains some mild slash. Don't like it - don't read it. Don't say I didn't warn you.

* * *

"Will you two pay attention for once?" burst out Remus, watching Sirius and James take in turns to aim their wands at the back of a blonde Slytherin boy, who Remus recognised as Avery, sitting several desks ahead of them, causing his tie to frequently pull forward at predetermined intervals (the two Marauders seemed to have worked out some kind of rhythm), and force his head to collide with the hard surface of his wooden desk, the intoxicating smell of polish wafting from it across the classroom. This earned Avery several glares from students sitting nearby, even though he was at a loss to explain what was happening - not like either Sirius or James were giving him enough time to gather his thoughts properly after each collision. Professor Binns, as usual, was not paying any attention to this development, droning on and on about his favorite subject - goblin rebellions - meaning that Sirius and James were more or less free to do as they pleased. Nevertheless, Remus was determined to stop his two best mates from earning one more detention for this week alone.

James yawned, boredom clearly etched on his face "Moony, we couldn't pay attention to Binns even if we wanted to."

"Besides, we have you to explain it to us afterwards." remarked Sirius, wearing an identical facial expression to James. He gave his wand a lazy flick, and just as Avery opened his mouth to most likely gain Professor Binns' attention, his head smashed forcefully into the desk, giving the impression that he was kissing it. Several of the students sitting nearby sniggered, and Sirius cracked a satisfied grin, leaning back and propping his chair against the back wall of the classroom. Avery straightened up, rubbing his forehead and looking utterly bewildered, but did not have a chance to do much else as James raised his wand, and Avery's head collided with the desk once again.

Remus chuckled slightly "With the amount of detentions you've got, I doubt I'll be seeing you two often enough to get around to it."

"Good point." Sirius drove a hand through his lengthy, dark hair and flicked his wand again in the manner of an orchestra conductor. This time several teeth came flying out of Avery's mouth from the sheer force of the impact.

"You really should stop that."

"He deserves it." replied James "You saw what that git did to Mary yesterday."

A series of quick images flashed through Remus' mind. Mary Macdonald, the well-meaning, but unfortunately rather clumsy Gryffindor, was for some unknown reason a favourite target of the Slytherins, especially the "Death Eater" club who seemed to use almost everyone and anyone they could for target practice. They were also rather sneaky about it, which meant that many of them were never caught, and that left it up to the friends and relatives of the victims to deal out their own brand of sweet justice "Is she okay?"

"Think so. She looked kind of green when she was discharged from the hospital wing this morning, but other than that she looked alright. Besides, I doubt Madam Pomfrey would let her out if there was still something wrong with her." answered James, aiming his wand at a recovered Avery, who had opened his mouth again to speak, and muttered "_Silencio_". Avery's lips were still moving, but no sound came out of them, much to the amusement of those sitting near him. Avery, looking utterly bewildered and very angry, began waving his hand in a desperate bid to get Professor Binns' attention. The ghostly teacher took no notice, his gaze still firmly fixed on his notes.

Even though Remus knew he shouldn't find this funny, he couldn't help but smile at his two best friends' antics. He had already missed almost half of Professor Binns' long lecture on goblin rebellions whilst hissing at James and Sirius to stop, but suspected that he could probably find something in the library on the topic to compensate for it. There was only ten minutes left until the end of the lesson anyway. Sighing, Remus packed away his things into his bag, and continued watching Sirius and James, who seemingly had found a new way to amuse themselves.

"Hey Prongs, watch this." giggled Sirius, aiming his wand at a large, hairy tarantula scurrying swiftly across the dusty floor a little distance away. With a whispered incantation and an appropriate wand movement, the tarantula was lifted off the ground and hovered over the heads of several unsuspecting students until it reached Avery, at which point Sirius let it drop upon the Slytherin's head. Avery's eyes widened as he began mouthing something less than flattering and clutching at his hair, desperately trying to get hold of the frightened spider which was clinging onto his hair for dear life, whilst several students surrounding him gave shocked gasps and hurriedly moved their chairs away.

Sirius turned, grinning, to James, who rolled his eyes "Impressive, Mr. Padfoot. Surely merits an Acceptable, maybe even an Exceeds Expectations."

"Think you can do better?" shot back Sirius, still smiling.

James smiled back, rolling up his sleeves "Watch and learn, little doggy." Pointing his wand at Avery, James muttered something under his breath. The spider, which was crawling down Avery's neck, shot straight down the back of the Slytherin's shirt, vanishing from view. Judging from the look on Avery's face as he felt the spider moving down his back, if the blonde Slytherin could have made a sound, he would have most certainly been screaming at the top of his voice. Most of the surrounding students had completely stopped paying any attention whatsoever to Professor Binns at his point, who didn't seem too bothered by this development, and were watching Avery, a few hurrying forward to help the panicking Slytherin.

Remus snorted "Amusing Prongs, but not quite up to your usual standard."

Sirius rounded on him, a curious twinkle in his grey eyes "Wanna try, Moony?"

Remus poked his thumb at the shiny prefect badge pinned on his chest "I know you don't give a damn about these things Sirius, but I have a reputation to live up to."

"Aye." James shook his head in mock sadness "Alas, the reigns of leadership seemed to have killed the Moony we all knew and loved."

"I still _am_ Moony. I never went anywhere."

"Then amaze us, Remus." smiled Sirius "Blind us with the sheer brilliance of your pranking talents."

Remus stared down at his desk. Somewhere deep within him, a little man seemed to be trying to claw his way out of the prison in the recesses of his mind. A little man that Remus knew as his second, a little more loose, personality. The one that he more commonly knew as his "Marauder" side. The one side of him that was more than just a little irresponsible. And the one side that Remus could not, at any cost, let take over him at the present moment.

"Come on, Moony. Show us what that inner Marauder of yours can do." said James, nudging his best friend with his elbow.

And of course, James just _had_ to say "inner Marauder". Remus' eyes glinted mischievously as the little man began doing a merry jig within his mind, and pulled out his wand, flexing his fingers in the process. The responsible part of him was still there, whispering to him, _go easy my friend, don't get too carried away_. Remus briefly acknowledged this as he gently cleared his throat, Sirius and James watching him with avid interest. _Go small_, spoke the little voice in his mind. Avery had finally managed to get the spider off him, the little, black tarantula lying on the ground beside the Slytherin's chair, who raised his foot to stomp on the hairy creature.

Pausing to think about the consequences might have been a good idea. Unfortunately for responsible Remus, Marauder Remus wasn't one to bother himself with such trivial things.

* * *

"Class canceled." declared Frank Longbottom, approaching the group of apprehensive fifth-year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, who were standing huddled under a large oak tree "Old Kettleburn had an, erm...accident."

"Accident?" Lily Evans raised her eyebrow in suspicion "I'm guessing there's more to it than that."

"Probably, but Professor McGonagall wouldn't tell me more about it."

Lily crossed her arms, and stared stubbornly at the brown-haired boy "Frank..."

Frank pretended not to understand "What?"

"Spit it out."

Frank coughed, a cough that sounded as though it might have been hiding a laugh "You know those unicorns that Kettleburn was taming for the lesson?"

"Yeah." Lily's eyes narrowed "And?"

"Some idiot's fed them Accendis Elixir. A _lot_ of Accendis Elixir."

Lily's eyes widened "Don't tell me..."

"What's an Accendis Elixir?" asked Peter. Out of all the classes that he had, Care for Magical Creatures was the only one which his other three friends didn't take up. Remus did it for a brief while in his third year before opting out. The amount of injuries he was able to sustain every week due to the class may have had something to do with it. Any magical creature that Kettleburn brought in would always show unusually hostile behavior towards Remus. Peter had sometimes wondered whether Remus being a werewolf may have had something to do with this.

Frank smiled feebly "Unicorn breeders use it when they want unicorns to mate. It's gets them, um...excited, so to speak. Takes about eighteen hours for the elixir to take effect."

"What's this got to do with Professor Kettleburn?"

"He, err, got in the way. Quite unfortunate really, poor man's still in shock..."

The class burst out in laughter. Peter didn't know whether to laugh or look horrified, his face now torn between the two. Only Lily was still frowning, arms crossed on her chest; but the shiny Prefect badge gleaming on her chest may have had something to do with that. Particularly since Professor McGonagall was swiftly approaching towards the hysterically laughing students, looking remarkably like an extremely pissed-off vulture, assisting a short, bearded man wrapped from head to toe in white bandages and leaning on a slightly bent wooden crutch. Upon seeing them everyone immediately became silent, although several people were still clearly trying not to giggle at the sight of the unlucky Care for Magical Creatures teacher.

Up close, Professor McGonagall looked even more ferocious than usual, her pointy witch's hat sitting lopsided on her head. Upon seeing the students, she called out "Class canceled everyone. Move along, I'm sure you have other subjects to catch up on." Beside her, Professor Kettleburn let out a pained grunt, his knees wobbling dangerously. He looked like the lone survivor of a very vicious battle "Come along now, Silvanus, Poppy'll fix you right up..."

Kettleburn muttered something less than flattering under his breath before he was led away, limping, by McGonagall in the direction of the castle. The class soon followed them, Lily and Frank walking slightly behind as they trudged up the steep hill towards the entrance doors, chatting carelessly. As Frank launched into a lengthy discussion about the upcoming Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, Lily glanced sideways, only to see a small figure quickly moving in the opposite direction from them.

For the life of her, Lily Evans could not figure out what Peter Pettigrew could possibly want in the Forbidden Forest.

* * *

Using the Engorging Charm on a tarantula in the middle of the class in never likely to be done with noble intentions at heart.

You might expect the spider to reach the size of a small badger. Maybe even a large fox cub. If you put enough effort into the spell, you might even get one the size of a Siberian tiger.

In the case of Remus Lupin, you would _not_ expect a simple "_Engorgio_" to cause a hairy, fearsome tarantula to swell to the size of an African elephant. A very _big_ African elephant at that.

Screams filled the hallway as students scrambled to get out of the classroom first, the giant hairy tarantula now overturning desks and bookshelves as it scurried around frantically, utterly confused by it's current predicament. Remus, Sirius and James were among the last to get out through the narrow doorway, the latter two laughing to their heart's content about the situation. Remus was still in a state of semi-shock, various scenarios of him getting expelled from Hogwarts, or at the very least losing his position as prefect, now running through his mind.

"That was class, Moony." spoke Sirius through tears of laughter now streaming down his face "Never thought you had it in you."

"Shut up."

"And we thought _we_ were troublemakers." commented James "Turns out we've got nothing on this guy."

"Shut it."

"Aww, come on Moony. We do stuff like that all the time, and we're still here."

"Neither of you is a prefect."

"Ah, but of course." James gave Remus a mock salute "Our sincerest apologies, your Perfectness."

Remus let out a sound that was a half-groan, half-chuckle "Whatever. I've done it."

"So there's nothing to be upset about, right?" Sirius patted him on the back.

"Yeah, I suppose so." answered Remus in a tone that said all too clearly that he did not believe it one little bit.

Back in the classroom, Professor Binns finished his lecture on the violent outcome of the 1642 goblin rebellion and finally looked up to see the room deserted.

"Goodness, is it time already? Must have gotten carried away." The ghostly professor picked up his trasparent notes before floating out through the doorway. Having all the attention span of a deaf bat, he did not notice a huge, black spider trying desperately to force it's way out of one of the windows, being too large to fit successfully through the doorway.

* * *

Professor McGonagall spent a good ten minutes trying to explain to Madam Pomfrey what had happened to poor Professor Kettleburn. It was somewhat more difficult to decide what kind of treatment to give to a person personally violated by a group of unicorns, other than to afford the Care for Magical Creatures teacher enough rest to recover from the ordeal, and remove a couple of minor bruises and fix a few broken bones. Finally leaving the school nurse to get on with what she did best, McGonagall closed the door to the hospital wing and swung around.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class, Miss Loveshore?"

The girl smiled sheepishly "Yeah, about that Professor..."

Three minutes later, McGonagall wondered what on earth she had possibly done to deserve such a bad day.

* * *

"...For homework - a two foot essay on Glamour Charms, to be handed in on Thursday." chimed in Professor Flitwick as the bell rang out. Bellatrix heaved her bag over her shoulder before exiting the classroom, shoving a few second-years roughly out of the way as she made her way towards Lucius, who was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairwell, engaged in conversation with none other than her sister Narcissa, who was watching Lucius in wide-eyed admiration, eagerly hanging onto his every word. Bellatrix began walking slower, attempting to eavesdrop whilst hidden from view by the dense crowd. Lucius, however, quickly spotted Bellatrix and beckoned her to come over. If she didn't know better, Bellatrix could have almost sworn that Lucius was purposefully keeping an eye out for her amidst other students.

"Ah, here comes Bellatrix - nice talking to you, Narcissa." Lucius moved over to greet Bellatrix, leaving behind a stricken-looking Narcissa.

"She won't leave me alone!" he hissed as he approached the black-haired witch.

Bellatrix raised an eyebrow questioningly "I thought you liked her."

"I do, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to tolerate her acting like a bloody stalker around me!"

Bellatrix shrugged "Your problem, not mine."

"She is _your_ sister."

"AND, she has a crush on _you_. No use complaining, Lucius."

The golden-haired Slytherin sighed in exasperation "The least you could do is keep her off my back."

"Whenever I feel like it."

"Then I guess that'll have to suffice for now." muttered Lucius as they made their way down to the Great Hall.

* * *

The students were completely silent as Professor McGonagall entered the empty classroom, most of them seated near the walls, as far away from her as possible. Remus felt a cold shiver travel down his back as he noticed that she was carrying the same tarantula he had enchanted, now returned back to it's normal size. His knees were knocking together as nerves and a growing sense of guilt began getting the better of him. He just hoped he wouldn't suddenly lose his mind and start jumping up and down in his seat, yelling "It was me! It was all me!"

Professor McGonagall promptly dropped the spider into a glass jar on one of the tables, and turned around to face the students "I cannot even begin to stress how tiring it is, to have to deal with a bunch of fifth-years behaving in a manner befitting five year olds. So - which one of you is responsible for this incongruous incident?"

Remus could have sworn that McGonagall's eyes had briefly flickered towards him as she spoke. She couldn't possibly know it was him, could she? Unless she somehow knew Legillemency...Remus quickly averted his gaze, just in case this particular theory proved to have some merit. The class remained silent, a few fidgeting uncomfortably with the hem of their robes. Remus swallowed a lump in his throat, and continued examining the floor with forced interest. At last, he couldn't supress the temptation and briefly looked up.

There was no doubt about it. McGonagall was looking sternly in his direction, her eyes flashing menacingly. Remus' heart seemed to drop. There goes his prefect position.

Then she spoke "Do I take your raised hand to mean that you have question or a confession to make, Mr. Potter?"

Remus automatically swung around. Immersed in his fears, he had forgotten that Sirius and James were sitting right behind him.

"The latter one, Professor." chuckled James.

"You are responsible for this mess, then?"

"That is completely correct."

Professor McGonagall's chest swelled indignantly as everyone's heads turned to James. Remus felt as though a heavy weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Turning to face James so that McGonagall couldn't see, he mouthed "Thanks".

James merely winked at him.

McGonagall kept James behind as the rest of the class were allowed to go. Sirius and Remus waited for their friend in the deserted hallway outside, with James joining them two minutes later.

"Thanks again, by the way." said Remus as they headed down to the Great Hall.

"You're welcome Moony. And before you ask, no, you don't owe me."

"So what did she tell you?" inquired Sirius.

"Well, first she spent thirty seconds giving me a lecture on how she was disgusted with my behavior and all that - y'know, the usual - and then she told me to be at her office on Saturday evening for my detention. She wanted to make it Friday evening, but I already have one with Flitwick that day."

"_We_ have one with Flitwick that day." Sirius reminded him "And then we've got Quidditch practice straight after that."

"No we don't. Robert rescheduled it to Saturday just this morning." James stared at Sirius incredulously "Don't tell me you didn't know?"

Sirius groaned "Nobody ever tells me anything."

As they finally got down to the Entrance Hall, Wormtail burst in through the grand doors, looking severely ruffled.

"There you are, Pete." said James cheerfully "Where've you been?"

"Looking for you guys." blurted out Peter, seemingly out of breath. It was easy to guess that he had been running "Just heard from Alice two minutes ago that you lot got in a spot of bother with McGonagall."

"What thy fair lady speaks is true." declared Sirius in a dramatic voice "Alas, 'twas this scoundrel here that be the source of it all." He nodded towards Remus.

"Aye, Rem, you old rogue." James patted him fondly on the back "This be your finest hour."

Remus shook his head "I'm never going to hear the end of this, am I?"

Sirius and James both grinned nearly identical grins "Nope."

"Speaking of which, is that roast chicken I smell?" Sirius sniffed the air as they entered the Great Hall "Ah good, there's still some left." They moved over to the Gryffindor table, Frank Longbottom and Robert Melvin, the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain beckoning the Marauders to sit next to them. James as usual, positioned himself at such an angle from which he could have a perfect view of Lily Evans sitting further down the table from them, sneaking occasional glances at her. Sirius took no notice of anyone, but instead proceeded to attack the last remaining few pieces of the roast chicken with a ravenous ferocity, biting eagerly into the meat with an almost dog-like manner. Remus took a seat next to Peter, who was already piling roast potatoes onto his plate.

"Good odds against Hufflepuff, wouldn't you say?"

"Damn right. We've got the best Chasers in the entire school." Robert slammed his fist down on the table "And the best Seeker."

"And the most good-looking one too." added James, smiling.

Catherine Bell, the Keeper, rolled her eyes "Don't forget the most big-headed."

James placed his hand to his heart "You wound me with your cruel words, Catherine."

"I was counting on it."

Peter was already wolfing down a second helping of scrambled eggs on toast when he saw Bellatrix Black enter the Great Hall with Lucius Malfoy.

And glance directly at the Gryffindor table.

Within seconds, Peter dived behind Remus and mouthed, upon the latter shooting him a quizzical look, "Hide me!"

Remus shrugged, and went back to his sausages. Peter peeked out from behind his back, and watched Bellatrix sit down at the Slytherin table and engage in avid conversation with Lucius and from the looks of it, Avery and Narcissa. He reached up with his hand and tapped Remus on the shoulder.

"Pass me my plate."

Remus gazed at him, confused "Why?"

"Because I'm hungry."

"I meant, why don't you get it yourself? And who are you hiding from?" Remus scanned the Great Hall with narrowed eyes.

"Irrelevant. Pass the plate."

"Irrelevant?"

"Just pass the damn plate."

Remus finally obliged and passed Peter his plate. Two minutes later...

"Moony, old boy, pass the salt will you?"

Two seconds after that...

"_And_ the pepper too."

Three minutes since...

"Mmm, that roast beef does look good. Pass us some."

Thirty seconds past...

"No beef goes without potatoes. Moony!"

Barely a minute after...

"Remus, the gravy if you please."

Remus gritted his teeth as he passed Peter the gravy "Your wish is my command."

Peter missed the sarcasm "Very kind of you, Rem. Good friend, you are."

"I try." Remus went back to sipping his pumpkin juice, wondering who on earth Peter was so desperately hiding from.

* * *

"The Marauders, you say?" Lucius questioned, looking mildly intrigued.

"Who else?" spat Avery "Them bastards were sitting right at the back, easy enough for them to hex me, nobody would've noticed. And it's not like Binns gives a hoot about what goes on in his own bloody class."

"We'll get them." cackled Mulciber, who had joined in on the conversation "Like we got ol' Kettleburn, eh?"

Everyone glanced in the direction of the staff table, where Professor Kettleburn was now groaning in pain with every movement he made.

"But let's not forget the mastermind behind the scheme, shall we?" Lucius spread his arms wide. Narcissa looked at him in wide-eyed admiration.

"For once Lucius, you have succeeded in impressing me." said Bellatrix.

Lucius grinned "A deed worthy of the Marauders?"

Bellatrix snorted "Not quite there yet, Lucius, but you're getting really close."

Narcissa opened her mouth to speak, clearly intent on bringing Lucius' attention to her, but Avery cut in.

"I just wish I could get back at those scumbags somehow..."

Lucius winked "Oh, I am sure you will have plenty of chances for that." As Mulciber and Avery began loudly insulting the infamous Gryffindor rogues, he leaned over to Bellatrix "And whilst we are on the topic of the Marauders, how are your conquests coming along, dear Bellatrix?"

Bellatrix threw a swift look towards the Gryffindor table. Potter, Sirius and Lupin were all there - but no sign of Pettigrew as far as she could see.

"I _will_ win that bet, Lucius. You better have that magic carpet ready for me to take ownership."

"Don't count your lambs before they are born, Bella. You haven't won yet."

"_Lucius_..." hissed Bellatrix threateningly.

"What, dear Bellatrix? Going to crack my head open with a teapot?"

"I'm considering it."

Lucius smiled knowingly "Do let me know how it goes with Pettigrew."

"Be prepared tonight for the good news."

"_That_ confident, Bellatrix? Is your feminine charm _that_ irresistible?"

Bellatrix smirked "Just ask Rodolphus Lestrange."

* * *

As people gradually rose from their seats and began exiting the Great Hall, Peter allowed Remus to rise first, using his friend as a shield to hide himself from the Slytherins. Remus decided to go along with it, despite being completely befuddled by the circumstances. It seemed as though Peter might just get out of the Hall without being noticed - at least, until he felt a soft hand caressing his back and turned around to see Bellatrix Black place an elegant finger to her lips, a smile gracing her beautiful face.

Peter might have screamed, but all he could do was continuously open and close his mouth like a goldfish, no sound coming out. Forgetting all about manners, he pushed past Remus, scrambling to get out of the Great Hall and out of Bellatrix's sight. Unfortunately for him, he tried to push past a couple of burly looking sixth-years who glared at him before shoving him roughly sideways, causing him to crash into a third-year Hufflepuff girl. Apologising profusely, Peter dashed through the doorway without looking back, despite people calling after him.

"Wormtail! Oi!"

"Library...need to get a book on Herbology...see you guys later." panted Wormtail as he ran past them, all three of the Marauders gazing at his retreating form in confusion.

"What's gotten into him?" asked James.

Remus shrugged "No idea. I think he's hiding from someone."

Sirius' expression hardened "You think the Slytherins've been bullying him?"

"Don't think so. He would've told us, Pete isn't the type to keep something like that to himself."

"Maybe he's got a stalker." suggested Sirius helpfully.

"A secret admirer." remarked James "Someone's got a crush on him."

Sirius wiped an imaginary tear from his eye "Little Wormy, all grown up." All three of them burst out laughing as they headed up to the common room along with the other Gryffindors.

* * *

Saying goodbye to Lucius and the other Slytherins heading down into the dungeons, Bellatrix followed Peter, walking softly as to make the least amount of noise - something that she had a natural talent for. The library would be partially deserted at this time (she had overheard Peter), hence it would be easy enough to approach Peter innocently and strike up a simple conversation. Stir up his guilt by asking him why he was avoiding her, play on his feelings and his personal desires, make him want _her_ like he had never wanted any woman before - make him believe she was genuinely interested in him, and the rest would be a piece of cake...

Even though she kept enough distance to prevent Peter from noticing her following him, she could hear his heavy footsteps echoing in the distance. Bellatrix tossed her hair back over her shoulder and straightened up as to appear taller - an attractive quality in young women, she was told by her elders - and began whistling to herself as she entered the library as to appear utterly inconspicuous and without any agenda. Madam Pince eyed her grimly, causing Bellatrix to quickly shut up and smile sweetly; but as soon as the librarian had turned her back, Bellatrix quickly began moving past the rows of bookshelves, her eyes searching for Pettigrew. At last she found him, sitting at a table some distance away - but he was not alone.

Sitting close beside him was Ravenclaw boy, thin with light-brown hair and green eyes, leaning down to whisper into Peter's ear. Bellatrix noticed something like a small smile cross Peter's gloomy face, causing it to momentarily light up - and a split-second later the Ravenclaw boy rose, and walked away, Peter looking at his retreating figure with an overly fond look. Bellatrix waited as she saw the Ravenclaw boy head up to Madam Pince, clutching a book before clearing her throat gently and walking over towards Peter, whose nose was buried in another book (although Bellatrix severely doubted he was actually reading and not just pretending to).

"Erm, hi Peter."

Pettigrew jumped at her words; his eyes strayed over towards Bellatrix towering over him, and nodded slightly.

"Er, hello."

Bellatrix smirked inwardly; Peter didn't seem to be as eager to run away from her anymore. Putting on a shy smile, she continued "Listen, I just wanted to talk about yesterday..." She sat down beside him, ruffling his hair gently.

"That's fine." Peter's voice sounded almost hollow, lifeless, like he was some kind of robot "I really didn't mind the kiss, it was just..."

_Good. He's opening up_.

"...unexpected?" Bellatrix smiled "I understand. I really didn't want to pressure you, so I'm, er, kind of sorry for that."

Peter didn't say anything. His eyes were still glued to the book.

"You're a very attractive guy, you know. I don't imagine you're used to hearing that very often..."

_Careful Bellatrix, you're losing him._

"...but you really are quite handsome. And a very nice guy. I really wish we could get to know each other much better."

"Really?" Peter still didn't look up. Bellatrix placed a finger under his chin.

"Really." Peter looked her straight in the eye, and she involuntarily blushed.

_Get a grip woman. You're just putting on an act, for goodness' sake._

"Er, you're very pretty too Bellatrix." spoke Peter. Then, after a moment in thought, he added "And very nice."

"Thanks." An awkward silence ensued between them, Peter now looking vacantly past her at one of the bookshelves and Bellatrix tucking a strand of black hair behind her ear as she pondered what to say next. She really never had to deal with someone like Peter before, hence she had no idea how to.

"I don't see you with the rest a lot of the time." finally spoke Bellatrix.

"The rest?"

"Your little gang? The Marauders, if I'm not mistaken?"

"Oh. Yeah, we get along alright."

"So why don't you hang out with them more often?"

"Don't really have much time. Homework and all."

"Of course." Bellatrix smiled "Like now?" she gestured towards the book in his hand.

"Err..." Pettigrew closed it and glanced down at the words inscribed on the cover "_A Casual Guide To Breeding Manticores_".

"Care of Magical Creatures, I suppose?" interjected Bellatrix, sliding the book gently from his grasp.

"Yep." Peter swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat and suddenly rose up "Listen, it was really nice talking to you and all, Bellatrix...you're quite nice, despite all the stuff people say about you..."

Bellatrix's head whipped around to face Peter "Say about me? Say what?"

"V-very f-f-flattering things." stammered Peter. Nerves must be getting the best of him again "I mean it's not like you're an egoistical slut or anythin..."

"I am a WHAT?"

"Nice talking to you!" squealed Peter and before Bellatrix could speak again, he rushed past her, vanishing beyond the row of bookshelves. Bellatrix rose up quite sharply and headed after him. There was a sudden crash from ahead and she heard Madam Pince exclaim "Mr. Pettigrew! Watch where you're going, young man!"

"Sorry." Bellatrix dashed out from behind another bookshelf to see a very cross Madam Pince picking up books from the floor and Peter hurriedly exiting the library. Bellatrix determintedly followed after him, ignoring Madam Pince's plea to help her. She did not know where she was going; alerted by Pettigrew's heavy footfalls, she relied on her sense of hearing to direct her to where he was going. Dashing quickly up another two flights of stairs and through a door on the seventh floor through which she knew Pettigrew had just entered, she burst into a wide corridor, that she was so familiar with during her years at Hogwarts.

Except that Pettigrew was nowhere to be found despite having only a two, maybe three second head start on her.

Instead right in front of her, there was a massive door which Bellatrix was certain had _not_ been there before.

She stood, bewildered on the spot, wondering for a few seconds whether she had taken a wrong turn somewhere, or whether this was the seventh floor at all. But she did see Peter coming through this door - it was impossible that she was in the wrong place. She could suddenly hear muffled voices from beyond the door, yet loud and distinct enough for Bellatrix to distinguish that there was two people beyond it at the very least.

Curiosity taking the better of her, Bellatrix stepped swiftly towards the doorway, and gently prodded it open. Almost immediately she found herself in a brightly coloured room with a dark blue carpet and a single, large bed with velvet blue drapings hiding the two figures sitting within from view - one of them thin and tall and another shorter and more rounder. Bellatrix stood frozen as the voices carried over clearer than ever to her.

"Peter, are you sure this is secure? I mean..."

"Relax, Roger. Nobody even knows this room exists, trust me, I've been in here hundreds of times before."

"Well...if you insist..." Bellatrix saw the two silhouettes come closer together beyond the drapings "This is much more comfortable than having to hide in the Forest."

Pettigrew's voice chuckled "I hope you are impressed."

"As I always am." The taller figure playfully pushed the shorter one that most certainly belonged to Pettigrew back onto the bed "Give me a kiss, Pete."

"As you wish." whispered Pettigrew and leaned upwards.

Bellatrix's jaw dropped open in shock.

* * *

Bellatrix waited patiently for approximately five minutes for Lucius to stop rolling on the floor in spasms of laughter and she relayed the tale to him, fuming inside. Finally the blonde-haired Slytherin managed to get a grip on himself and rose up, still clutching at a stitch in his side from laughing so hard. Wiping a stray tear from his eye, Lucius then burst out into laughter once again as he fell back into his favourite chair, throwing his head back and attracting the attention of almost everyone in the Slytherin common room.

"For goodness' sake Lucius, get a grip!" hissed Bellatrix "Everyone's staring at us!"

"You...Pettigrew...boy...likes...boys..." Lucius was laughing so hard that Bellatrix was surprised he hadn't choked yet.

"Yes, yes, Pettigrew's gay. Can we please get over it now, like civillised people?"

"Oh, I'm not laughing at Pettigrew, dear Bellatrix, I'm laughing at you." chuckled Lucius "What were you saying before? "Prepare for the good news"? Well this is certainly good news in that I get to keep my magic carpet."

"How was I supposed to know Pettigrew's gay?"

"You weren't. That's what makes it so funny." Lucius descended into a fit of giggles, making Bellatrix wish she could strangle him there and then.

"Your logic is lost on me, Lucius."

"The all confident Bellatrix _I-can-seduce-any-boy-at-Hogwarts_ Black finally meets her match." Lucius finally got a hold on himself, although several Slytherins were still staring at him "Wait until I tell the rest."

"You wouldn't."

"You're right, I wouldn't. Not unless you lose the bet."

"I thought I've already lost the bet." frowned Bellatrix.

"Now, now Bellatrix. We have to agree, there was no way you could've known that Pettigrew was, so to speak, _untouchable_."

"And?"

"Well, there's still the other three left."

"You're giving me a second chance?"

"Let's put it this way Bellatrix - I hate to have my fun end too early." Lucius rose from his seat "Oh, and you have three weeks now."

"What?" Bellatrix's head snapped up.

"Three Marauders, three weeks, _Bella_."

"THAT'S IT!" roared Bellatrix and leapt up to her feet "ENOUGH WITH THE NICKNAME!"

"Ooh, fiery one, this girl." cackled Lucius in a manner worthy of Peeves the Poltergeist; the next moment he dived behind a sofa as Bellatrix hurled a Full Body-Bind Curse at him.

It lasted about half an hour with Bellatrix chasing Lucius all over the common room; at least until an angry-looking Professor Slughorn burst inside and sent them all to bed.

* * *

**Ending Note:** And here we are, end of the chapter. I apologise if it's not good enough, but I really have to rely on rare bouts of inspiration to write it. Once again, I apologise for the delay, and about the Pettigrew thing - I apologise if I in any way whatsoever insulted anyone with that. And as usual, read, enjoy and don't forget to leave a review!


End file.
